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Home , Anatol Rapoport, Emergence, Gordon Pask, Heinz von Foerster, Systems theory

, A Second Order Cybernetician

Stuart A. Umpleby The George Washington University Washington, DC 20052

lt is a pleasure to introduce this issue of Cyber­ 1949. ln those days of rejuvenation, he returned to netics Forum dedicated to my triend and mentor, the old riddle of the of the observer. With Heinz Von Foerster. As the following articles demon­ the encouragement of the psychiatrists Victor Frank! strate, Heinz is a man who inspires not only and Otto Potzl, he published a short monograph on admiration and respect for his scientific contribu­ a quantum mechanical of physiological tions but also great affection. He is an outstanding . During a visit to the he met human being as weil as a great scientist. The Warren McCulloch who not only had the data for his articles by , , Humberto theory of memory but who also introduced him to Maturana, Lars Lofgren, Edwin Schlossberg and the campus at urbana. Kenneth Wilson often recount personal Through McCulloch, at conferences about Cyber· with Heinz. Kenneth Wilson provides a very useful netics: Circular Causa! and Mechanisms in overview of Heinz' major articles as weil as the work Biological and Social sponsored by the of visiting cyberneticians in the Biological Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, he met the people who Laboratory. laid the conceptual foundation for understanding the I shall provide some background on how Heinz really complicated systems-teleological systems came to the University of lllinois, a briet discussion and self-organizing systems. The people attending of the effect that the Biological Computer Labaratory these conferences included , Julian had on the students who worked there, and finally Bigelow, , , some personal reflections on the importance of and Ross Ashby. Heinz was so fas­ Heinz' work for , , and . cinated by the ideas that emerged at these meetings that after seven years of research at the University of lllinois in microwave tubes and ultra-highspeed oscillography, he went on sabbatical leave to learn The Years Before lllinois more about the of his enigmatic observer. After one year under the tutelage of Heinz has been a central figure in the field of Warren McCulloch at MIT and Arturo Rosenblueth in cybernetics since its beginning. During his student Mexico 'he returned to the University of lllinois and days he became involved with the Circle, a established the Biological Computer Labaratory to group of philosophers that included Wittgenstein, study computational principles in living .(1) Schlick, Menger and Carnap. From them he devel­ oped an interest in the fundamental difference between the world as it is and its symbolic repre­ The Biological Computer Labaratory sentation in or equati0ns. He wanted to Almost from the beginning it was apparent that learn more about the observer. However, the war the Biological Computer Labaratory (BCL) was not intervened and he spent those years in various labo­ an ordinary university research group. One of the ratories in Germany working on plasma and most amusing episodes in the history of BCL was microwave . Luckily he survived the war the series of events that led up to Heinz's being unscathed in mind or body. After the war he helped mentioned in the cartoon strip Pogo, a distinction up the first post-war radio station in Vienna and for scientists even rarer than the Nobel Prize. (see was in charge of its science and program until Figure 1) Someone at the National Institute of 4 A Second Order Cybernetician

>- 4i ::.:: -0 3 ..a>- ;0. '

0 $i! C> 0 ~ Cl.

>- 4i ::.:: .:: 0 3 ..a>-

0 C> 0 a..

0 C> 0 Q.

Figure 1. References to the Doomsday article in the Pogo comic strip.

Health wanted a of the popula­ article. tion dynamics of white blood corpuscles. Heinz be­ There followed one of the most entertaining ex­ came interested in the dynamics of populations, both changes of letters ever to appear in Science. The those whose elements interact and those with idea that the human population could through com­ elements that do not interact. He figured that data munication form a coalition and engage in a game on human population growth would be the most against nature was a particularly troubling idea. One complete set of data for a population with elements demographer called attention to the widely accepted capable of . The result was an article view that industrialization reduces rather than in Science in 1960 by Heinz Von Foerster, Patricia increases population. Heinz and his colleagues Mora and Lawrence Amiot called "Doomsday: Friday, pointed out that if an inverse relationship between 13 November, A.D. 2026."(2) They found that the population and technological know-how is applied to equation which best fit the data was not an expo­ the human population over the last couple of mil­ nential but rather a hyperbolic equation. There is a lennia then either Stone Age man was a technologi­ major difference. lf population is an exponential cal wizard who carefully removed his technological function of , population will become very !arge achievements so as not to upset his inferior progeny as time increases, but within limited time the popu­ or our population has dwindled from a once astro­ lation will remain finite. A hyperbolic function, how­ nomical size to the mere three billions of today.(3) ever, has asymptotes. That is, there will be a time at The BCL equation turned out to be considerably which population will go to infinity. Applying the more accurate than other forecasts in predicting method of least squares to parameterize the equa­ world population in 1970. The others were more con­ tion led to the date 2027, hence the title of the servative. However, 1975 data suggests that world Cybernetics Forum 5 population has moved ahead of even the SCL would discover that A is better off if S is better oft. equation.(4) Events have tended to follow these predictions. ln ln addition to research the Siological Computer 1968, Paul Erlich published The Population Bomb, Laboratory also had a significant impact on the stu­ and gradually people became more aware of rapidly dents at the University. On even the largest college increasing population and the impossibility of sus­ campuses there is usually a small group of students taining the high growth rate for very long.(7) The who are innovators in campus activities. They are 1970's brought greater attention to global communi­ the students who write for the campus newspaper cations-satellites, television, computer networks­ and Iead political or reform movements. These stu­ and also revelations about the covert activities of dents usually know each other, and they often can the CIA and the FSI. ln 1975 documents were made be found in special project courses with the most public which showed that during World War II the stimulating faculty members. At the University of Allies were able to Iisten to the message traffic of Michigan the Mental Health Research Institute with the German and Japanase high commands.(8) Alan James G. Miller, , Kenneth Soulding Turing was a central figure in this work. lt was no and Richard L. Meier was a focus of innovative accident that World War II was such a successful activity. Tom Hayden and Carl Oglesby were stu­ war for the United States. This new perspective on dents of Kenneth Soulding. Soulding has said that World War II helps to explain the interest of the Students for a Demooratic Society was born in his intelligence agencies in cybernetics research. The living room as a result of a seminar in . achievement of Heinz's third prediction-people will The Siological Computer Laboratory served a similar realize that A is better oft when S is better off-lies function at the University of lllinois. Over the years in the future. While there is increasing attention Heinz's students produced a Whole University Cata­ being paid to international development, the arms logue, a book on Metagames, an Ecological Source­ race continues and national and ethnic rivalries per­ book, and a large volume on the Cybernetics of sist. One hopeful sign is that a national commission Cybernetics. has been set up to study the possibility of estab­ lt is easy to understand why there was always a lishing a National Peace Academy. Since the U.S. feeling of excitement around SCL once one under­ now has several military academies devoted to stands Heinz's views on education. Heinz notes that teaching people how to win wars, it seems appropri­ most of contemporary education is designed to ate to have at least one academy devoted to teach­ make students react to a question in exactly the ing people how to resolve disputes short of war. same way. Tests are given to determine how suc­ ln about 1974, I mentioned to Heinz the three pre­ cessful the has been at making the student dictions he had made a decade earlier. He had for­ a completely predictable member of society. The gotten about them, and he attached little signifi­ higher the score, the more predictable the student. cance to them. He said he had put them together ln other words the purpose of education is to turn a short while before a talk because he thought they nontrivial systems into trivial systems. Heinz, follow­ would amuse the audience. Sut for me, those three ing Herbert Srun, defines an illegitimate question to predictions remain an example of Heinz's depth of be one for which the answer is known. A legitimate insight, broad human concern, and faith in the even­ question is one for which the answer is not known. tual good sense of his fellow human beings. Hence formal education is mostly concerned with Lest this description of the activities at SCL leave illegitimate questions. At SCL the emphasis was on the reader with the impression that the laboratory learning to ask legitimate questions.(5) led an untroubled existence, I should say a few words about the difficulties that Heinz faced. SCL Said Heinz there are two kinds of questions. was a Ieader. lt was chronically ahead of its time. To some there are answers in lessons, There was an exuberance at SCL that some inter­ But the questions that count, preted as Iack of seriousness. Quite a few people The ones to surmount, thought that anyone with an interest in physics, Are the questions that not yet are questioned.(6) linguistics, art, music, dance, and anthropology must be a dilettante. And more than a few people sus­ To be "recruited" to SCL one only had to be pected that calling attention to was attentive to the of the campus. Secause of his somehow subversive. Whi le the Iack of understand­ highly entertaining as weil as thought-provoking ing was unfortunate, it did not greatly matter as manner of speaking, Heinz was a frequent lecturer long as Heinz maintained his reputation as a suc­ on campus. One of the first I heard him speak cessful grantsman. Sut then came the Mansfield was about 1964 at the weekly luncheon series at the Amendment. Most of the early work on cybernetics YMCA. ln his talk Heinz predicted that in the years had been supported by the Office of Naval Research ahead people would make three discoveries. First, they would discover that the earth is finite. That is, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Sut population growth cannot continue indefinitely. in about 1968 the Mansfield Amendment put an end to research projects supported by the Department of Second, people would learn that power resides where resides. Third, human beings Defense which were not clearly related to a military 6 A Second Order Cybernetician mission. lt was intended that the National Science Consequently the results of most scientific work are Foundation and other agencies would pick up the readily understood and there is widespread agree· support of projects that had been funded by DOD. ment about their significance within the The problern of course was that these agencies did concerned. not have people who were familiar with the work in But scientific work that Ieads to the establishment cybernetics. There followed several frustrating years of a new area of inquiry is different in kind. To of searching for new sources of support. Meanwhile understand this difference I find it useful to refer to Ross Ashby and Gotthard Gunther had retired and Thomas Kuhn's Iist of components of a "disciplinary left the University. Finally in 1975 Heinz retired and matrix." ln the epilogue to The Structure of Scien­ moved to . The University decided not to tific Revolutions Kuhn identifies at least four ele­ hire new faculty members to continue the work of ments of a scientific field.(9) (1) There are "symbolic BCL. For those familiar with the laboratory, it was a generalizations" such as F = ma and E =IR. heartbreaking end to a remarkable episode in the (2) Models and include the idea that elec· history of science. tric current is similar to water flowing in a pipe and the idea that the of a gas behave like tiny elastic billiard balls in random motion. (3) "Values" could include the following proposi­ tions. Quantitive predicalions are preferable to quali­ How to do Cybernetics tative ones. Predictions should be accurate. BCL left behind a rich legacy. ln its day it was should (or need not) be socially useful. (4) "Exemp· one of very few educational institutions training lars" are the concrete problern solutions that stu­ people in cybernetics. Between 1958 and 1975 oper­ dents encounter from the start of their scientific ating under 25 grants, the laboratory produced 256 education, whether in laboratories, on examinations, articles and books, 14 masters theses and 28 doc­ or at the ends of chapters in scientific texts. toral dissertations. The topics covered , Exemplars show scientists how their job is to be logic, neurophysiology, , elec­ done. tronic music and automated instruction. These Work at George Washington University on a "dis­ materials are available in a microfiche file compiled ciplinary matrix" for the field of cybernetics has led by Kenneth Wilson. But merely to note the range of to two additional components. (5) "Guiding ques­ ideas developed at BCL does not capture the feel­ tions" state the principal concerns that motivate the ings regarding the laboratory. Among the graduates development of a theory. For example, early in his of BCL that I know there is a strong feeling that career Warren McCulloch asked the question, "What the work produced at BCL has not received the is a number that man may know it, and a man that attention that it deserves. When we. go to confer­ he may know a number?" (6) "Techniques" are the ences on cybernetics and , we find methods an author uses to persuade the reader to that many people are still struggling with issues his point of view. Techniques can be mathematical that were resolved at BCL, often quite elegantly, or verbal. Examples are set theoretical proofs, long ago. We believe that the field could regression analysis, computer , laboratory more rapidly if the work done at BCL were more experiments with animals, survey research, gedanken widely known. Of course other groups were also experiments, and historical examples. doing important work during this period. Great pro­ Major changes in science seem to occur through gress was being made in , artificial the formulation of new "guiding questions". Heinz, intelligence, , simulation lan­ for instance, has been preoccupied with the nature guages, the brain and other related fields. of the observer. Progress toward the resolution of But at BCL there was more emphasis on episte­ these questions usually takes the form of new mology than at most other cybernetics research "exemplars". The role of exemplars in the develop­ institutes. The different espistemology has led to a ment of a scientific field is crucial. Kuhn equates sort of gap between the BCL point of view and other his of "" with exemplars. systems theorists. People with a BCL background Exemplars can be used to identify the groups within this gap as frustration when we try to a scientific field who practice the discipline discuss a wide range of theoretical issues. Our differently. views are often rejected for reasons which seem Those with a BCL background use different to us uninformed and unpersuasive. lt is apparent exemplars and hence are using a different paradigm. that there is something rather complex going on. Heinz's articles are filled with fascinating exemplars. ln order to understand the importance of Heinz's Three of these accompany this article as illus· ideas and why they have so far experienced such trations. A central concept within the field of systems limited acclaim, it is necessary to understand how science is the notion that a whole can be somehow science operates. Most scientific work follows weil greater than the sum of its parts. (see Exemplar 1) trod paths. The questions dealt with are widely Yet this very important idea is often not precisely shared. The methods used are commonly practiced. Cybernetics Forum 7 understood. Heinz has resolved the mystery with two box illustrates how this very general process can simple illustrations, one from and one also generate . As the separate boxes find from . stable relationships, they form chains. The chains of The story of the magnetic cubes in a box demon­ boxes can themselves be the elements in the next strates what Heinz calls "order from noise" (see step in the process of self-. Thus Exemplar 2). I believe that it is also the most readily Heinz's example of the magnetic cubes in a box understood Blustration of a self-organizing system. solves the problern of the of new ln order for more complex systems to evolve, two entities. things must happen. New variety must be generated, The idea of a self-organizing system as a closed and appropriate selection must take place. A self­ system (the rules do not change during organizing system is not a living system. Rather, a the period of observation) is one of the most impor­ self-organizing system contains organisms and their tant and powerful ideas in systems theory. The prin­ environments. As the system moves toward its ciple can be applied in many ways. For instance, stable equilibrial states, it "selects" the stable rela­ anticipating the stable states of a system is an tionships. The example of the magnetic cubes in a alternative to trend extrapolation as a forecasting method.

EXEMPLAR 1 a' + b' + 2ab > a' + b'. On lnteractlon, the Whole and lts Parts: The margin which makes the left hand side of this inequality larger than the right hand side is, of Communication Amongst Planariae course, the product 2ab. This provides us with an A coalition is an example of the old saying that important clue. The product 2ab is nothing eise but "the whole is more than the sum of its parts." the measure of the Interaction of the two parts a Although we seem to understand very weil what this and b, namely the Interaction of a with b and b with means, this statement has been attacked by posi­ a. Hence, by taking the mutual Interaction of ele­ tivists and operationalists time and again, rightly so, ments in a system into consideration, the system as I think because the way it stands it clearly is non­ a whole indeed represents a more valuable entity sense. Two and two are both parts of four, but than the mere sum of its Independent parts. That a 2 + 2 = 4 and not a tiny bit more or less. However, coalition is such a structure, where the if what we want to say by this statement is properly elements interact for the benefit of the system as a formulated, a most profound principle is defined. lt whole, and hence for the advantage of each element is the principle of superadditive compositions for comprising the system is, I believe, now reasonably elements making up a system. Let me first give a clear. precise formulation of this principle in rather These so called "non-linear composition rules" abstract terms, and later illustrate the application of allow in a non-trivial way the description of systems this principle to pertinent concrete Situations. What composed of interacting elements. Take, for instance, we really want to say is: "A measure of the sum of a colony of about a hundred million flatworms of the the parts is larger than the sum of the measure of genus planaria. Each of these creatures has about the parts." This statement can be formulated in even one hundred nerve cells. Thus, all together they have more precise, mathematical terms. Consider F to be about ten billion nerve cells. The human brain also a measure function. lf you recall that the symbol has about ten billion nerve cells. Why don't these ">" stands for "left side larger than right side," the hundred million planariae represent the intelligence above statement can be written in the following way: of a human brain? With this short course on super­ additive composition rules, you are certainly now in F(a + b) > F(a) + F(b). a position to answer this puzzle. lt is because brain cells are in a state of perpetual interaction, constant­ ln order to make this highly symbolical expression ly coordinating, abstracting, and sifting pertinent more tangible, Iet me suggest a simple example Information for the system as a whole. Poor which may evoke old high school . Take for planariae cannot do it; add a couple of million the moment as an example of a measure function planariae to our colony, and nothing changes in the the operation "squaring;" that is structure of this colony. They do not interact. lf they F( ) = ( )'. interact, they interact by competing for a limited Squaring all F-expressions in our first equation we supply of food. obtain: F(a + b) = (a + b)' = a' + b' + 2ab and Heinz Von Foerster, "The Logical Structure of Envi­ F(a) = a', F(b) = b'. ronment and lts Interna! Representation," Interna­ Putting the results back in the form of our first tional Design Conference Aspen 1962. R.E. Eckerstrom equation, we obtain the undeniable truth that indeed: (ed.), Zeeland, Michigan: Herman Miller, lnc. 1963. 8 A Second Order Cybernetician

EXEMPLAR 2 MagneUe Cubes in a Box: Order From Noise Let me briefly explain what I mean by saying that a self-organizing system feeds upon noise by using an almost trivial, but nevertheless amusing example. Assurne I get myself a large sheet of permanent magnetic material which is strongly magnetized perpendicular to the surface, and I cut from this sheet a large number of little squares. These little squares I glue to all the surfaces of small cubes made of light, unmagnetic material, having the same size as my squares. Depending upon the choice of which sides of the cubes have the magnetic north pole pointing to the outside (Family I), one can pro­ duce precisely ten different families of cubes. Suppose now I take a number of cubes, say, of family I, which is characterized by all sides having north poles pointing to the outside (or family I' with all south poles), put them into a large box which is also filled with tiny glass pebbles in order to make these cubes float under and start shaking this box. Certainly, nothing very striking is going to happen: since the cubes are all repelling each other, they will tend to distribute themselves in the avail­ able such that none of them will come too Figure 2. An arrangement of magnetic cubes close to its fellow-cube. lf, by putting the cubes into demonstrates order form nolse. the box, no particular ordering principle was ob­ served, the of the system will remain con­ stant, or, at worst, increase a small amount. ln order to make this game a little more amusing, lf I would have left you ignorant with respect to suppose now I collect a population of cubes where my magnetic-surface trick and you would ask me, only half of the elements are again members belang­ what is it that put these cubes into this remark­ ing to family I (or I') while the other half are mem­ able order, I would keep a straight face and would bers of family II (or II') which is characterized by answer: The shaking, of course-and some little having only one side of different magnetism pointing demons in the box. to the outside. lf this population is put into my box With this example, I hope, I have sufficiently illus­ and I go on shaking, clearly, those cubes with the trated the principle I called "order from noise," single different pole pointing to the outside will because no order was fed to the system, just cheap tend, with overwhelming probability, to mate with undirected ; however, thanks to the little members of the other family, until my cubes have demons in the box, in the long run only those com­ almost all paired up. Since the conditional proba­ ponents of the noise were selected which contributed bilities of finding a member of family II, given the to the increase of order in the system. The occcur­ locus of a member of family I, has very mucn in­ rence of a mutation e.g. would be a pertinent creased, the entropy of the system has gone down, in the case of gametes being the systems hence we have more order after the shaking than of consideration. before. Hence, I would name two mechanisms as impor­ I grant you, that this increase in orderliness is not tant clues to the understanding of self-organizing impressive at all, particularly if the population systems, one we may call the "order from order" density is high. All right then, let's take a popula­ principle as Sehredinger suggested, and the other tion made up entirely of members belonging to one the "order from noise" principle, both of which family IVB, which is characterized by opposite require the of our demons who are polarity of the two pairs of those three sides which created along with the elements of our system, being join in two opposite corners. I put these cubes into manifest in some of the intrinsic structural proper­ my box and you shake it. After some time we open ties of these elements. the box and, instead of seeing a heap of cubes piled up somewhere in the box, you may not believe you eyes, but an incredibly ordered structure will Heinz Von Foerster, "On Self-Organizing Systems emerge, which, I fancy, may pass the grade to be and Their Environments," in Yovits and Cameron displayed in an exhibition of surrealistic art (see (eds.), Self-Organizing Systems, New York: Pergamon, Figure 2). 1960, pp. 31-50. Cybernetics Forum 9

Regression fits systems just trivial. The gentleman in the bowler hat can be regarded But humans are systems convivial. as proof of the need for multivalued logics (see Ex­ To say what will last emplar 3). A principal concern of systems theory is From times that are past, the relationship between an and its en­ Will Iead to conclusions peripheral. vironment. However, it is not sufficient to speak only

EXEMPLAR 3 The Gentleman in the Bowler Hat: - -- - -· ---=------. ~ Autonomy, Responsibllity, ;G \ "The is organized (or organ­ I ' I I -- t 1 izes itself) so that it computes a stable .0 ,.I ;- """ ~r:~ ~/ ·, L-f ~ J , reality." ;.::> /,0' .:) I , -r - i- This postulate stipulates "autonomy," i.e., "self­ -- ' ' ' 1--._. u>C .{:.· J ) ," for every living organism. Since the ~\-~ ,(~"_/ -- :1·.t- semantic structure of nouns with prefix "self·" be­ ·' \« ,/ ft..Y" ~tI -.< , ·' / I comes more transparent when this prefix is replaced . I' ' .~-r~)>, by the noun, "autonomy" becomes synonymous with ----:-~-}/ ) "regulation of regulation." ...,. ; ( lt may be strange in times like these to stipulate autonomy, for autonomy implies responsibility: lf I _- L7/ am the only one who decides how I act, then I am responsible for my action. Since the rufe of the most - popular game played today is to make someone eise ~ ;- '/ / I responsible for my acts-the name of the game is ' • I L,.... I· "heteronomy"-my arguments make, I understand, a \ ; - __/r J most unpopular claim. One way of sweeping it under the rug is to dismiss it as just another attempt to -V b rescue "solipsism," the view that this world is only in my imagination and the only reality is the ima­ Figure 3. The gentleman in the bowler hat. Are gining "1." lndeed, that was precisely what I was his of other people fantasies or saying before, but I was talking only about a single reality? organism. The Situation is quite different when there are two, as I shall demonstrate with the aid of the gentleman with the bowler hat (see Figure 3). He adopt this principle or to reject it. lf I reject it, I insists that he is the sole reality, while everything am the center of the universe, my reality are my eise appears only in his imagination. However, he dreams and my nightmares, my language is mono­ cannot deny that his imaginary universe is populated logue, and my logic mono-logic. lf I adopt it, neither with apparitions that are not unlike himself. Hence, me nor the other can be the center of the universe. he has to concede that they themselves may insist As in the heliocentric system, there must be a third that they are the sole reality and everything eise is that is the centrar reference. lt is the relation only a concoction of their imagination. in that case between Thou and I, and this relation is IDENTITY: their imaginary universe will be populated with apparitions, one of which may be he, the gentleman Reality = Community. with the bowler hat. According to the Principle of Relativity which What are the consequences of all this in and rejects a hypothesis when it does not hold for two aesthetics? instances together, although it holds for each instance separately (Earthlings and Venusians may The Ethical Imperative: Act always so as to increase be consistent in claiming to be in the center of the number of choices. the universe, but their claims fall to pieces if they should ever get together), the solipsistic claim falls The Aesthetical Imperative: lf you desire to see, learn to pieces when beside me I invent another autono­ how to act. mous organism. However, it should be noted that since the Principle of Relativity is not a logical Heinz Von Foerster, "On Constructing a Reality," in necessity, nor is it a proposition that can be proven W.F.E. Preiser (ed.), Environmental Design Research, to be either true or false, the crucial point to be Volume 2, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, 1973, recognized here is that I am free to choose either to pp. 44-45. 10 Second Order Cybernetician

of an organism and its . The logical TABLE 1 structure of the concept "environment" is more com­ plex than can be described by a dyadic relationship. ln order to establish the concept "environment," Author First Order Second Order Cybernetlcs Cybernetics there must be at least two elements observing this environment. And they must be sufficiently alike in Von Foerster The science of The science of order to serve as mutual witnesses for any objective observed systems observing systems event. Only knowlege that can be shared belongs to the environment. Observers without shared Pask The purpese of The purpese of knowledge inhabit different universes. The logical the model the modeller structure of environment is a triadic relation because Varela Controlled systems Autonomous it involves three entities: an observer, A; a witness, systems A'; and that which is witnessed, B. Environment can be called "together-knowledge" for which the Latin Umpleby Interaction among Interaction between expression is conscientia. Heinz has suggested that the variables in the observer and it was probably the triadic logical structure of this a system the observed concept that gave philosophers over the last three Umpleby Theories of social A theory of the thousand years difficulty when they tried to resort systems interaction to a simple true-false, two-valued, Aristotelian logic, between ideas where at least a three-valued logic is required.(10) Of and society course it can be claimed that is a single person's affair and that you do not need a witness in order to be conscious. However, note that our consciousness is produced by the "together­ experimenter would now have two groups of sub­ knowledge" of our different senses. The ear is wit­ jects rather than just one. For example, one group ness to what the eye sees. Touch confirms what the would be given the medication to be tested and the eye reports. other group would receive a placebo. The difference For those for whom mental activity is an impor­ between the responses of the two groups was tant part of life, a person who can invent images assumed to be due to the drug. Effects due to the with such great organizing power becomes the attention received by the subjects from the doctor object of tremendous affection. Cybernetics, like any could thereby be eliminated. This second stage in science, is a different way of seeing. "Doing re­ the treatment of objectivity could be called "con­ search" on a different way of seeing means creating structed objectivity." examples of how the world Iooks from the new point Things became quite unwieldy, however, when of view. lf the field of cybernetics has not pro­ social scientists began to do large scale social ex­ gressed as rapidly as we would have liked, the rea­ periments. During the mid-1960's a great of son may lie in the fact that more of us have not social legislation was passed in the United States realized that a new field requires new exemplars. as part of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program. After a few years it became apparent that many of the programs were not working exactly as antici­ pated. There then developed a peculiar commonality Second Order Cybernetics and of interest between conservatives and social scien­ tists. The conservatives wanted to stop the social the Change of Science programs. The social scientists argued that before Heinz that in order to deal with current implementing a new social program on a nationwide concerns, science must change to include attention basis, experiments should be run in selected com­ to the observer. He calls the new point of view munities to determine the effects of the program. "second order cybernetics." For several definitions These experiments were frequently quite controver­ of the difference between first order cybernetics and sial. The purpose of the experiment was usually de­ second order cybernetics, see Table 1.(11) Let me fined differently by different people. The experimen­ explain this new point of view in my own words. ters were considered suspect because they did not Science can be thought of as having moved through live in the community. And people demonstrated a three stages in how it deals with objectivity. ln the remarkable ability to reject findings they did not early days of science researchers were concerned agree with no matter how "scientifically" the experi­ with inanimate objects such as balls, pendula and ment was conducted. planets. We could call this an era of "unquestioned These experiences led Mitroff and Blankanship to objectivity." When science progressed to the study develop seven guidelines for conducting a holistic of human behavior, it was found that control groups experiment.(12) The guidelines are a radical departure were necessary to eliminate interaction effects be­ from current methods in the social sciences. The tween the observer and the subjects. That is, the usual experiment today, consistent Cybernetics Forum 11 with the second stage in the treatment of objec­ less it is extremely difficult to persuade a person tivity, consists of testing a single hypothesis using a whose early career involved the abandonment of one set of subjects and a control group. However, the position and the adoption of a new one to embrace guidelines for a holistic experiment say that at least a point of view which appears to him to be quite two points of view should be used. Furthermore, the similar to a position he long ago rejected. For deal­ experimenters should be included within the class of ing with this second kind of opposition to the new subjects, and the subjects should be included within epistemology I believe our best hope lies in the the class of experimenters. These guidelines amount correspondence principle. to a new that is compatible with Heinz introduced me to the correspondence prin­ the new epistemology and its emphasis on the role ciple-any new theory should reduce to the old of the observer. This third stage in the treatment of theory for those cases in which the old theory is objectivity can be called the period of "contested known to hold. The principle assumes that science objectivity." grows somewhat like concentric circles. Of course science can also grow by the development of theories to explain completely new phenomena un­ Some systems display little interaction, But politics makes payments to each faction. related to previously explained phenomena. But if When establishing agreement, the correspondence principle can be applied, it Becomes a great achievement, brings with it several advantages. First, if the new Will "objectivity" give sufficient satisfaction? theory is consistent with the old theory for those cases already investigated, a large body of support for the new theory is readily at hand. Second, and The new epistemology or second order cybernetics most important for our purposes, if the corres­ encounters at least two kinds of resistance. Some pondence principle can be shown to hold, then people simply do not understand the question. those scientists who have devoted their professional Hence, they are unable to appreciate the answer. to the development of the old theory have not The concern with epistemology is not their concern. labored in vain. That is, the new theory does not Their attention is elsewhere. So the discussion is threaten to invalidate their work, merely to extend irrelevant. This was my Situation during my early it. Thus the correspondence principle reduces the association with BCL. I began working with Heinz threat of the new theory to those who have devel­ in 1971 in order to better understand the work of oped the old theory. Of course the correspondence Ross Ashby, which did seem relevant to my con­ principle does not completely reduce the emotional cerns at the time. Heinz kept talking about the observer, a point that seemed rather obvious to me threat. Nor does it seem to make the paradigm and not worthy of lengthy discussion. I believe it shift noticeably easier. Nevertheless I have found it took about eighteen months for me to begin to get to be a useful debating point that seems to ease tensions. The principle tends to turn an either/or an inkling of what Heinz was talking about. I find situation into a both/and situation. now that second order cybernetics provides me with The way to apply the correspondence principle to a scientifc basis for understanding things which I second order cybernetics is as follows. Start with previously would have thought were outside the the assumption that first order cybernetics dealt reach of science. For example the recent rise of humanistic and the human potential movement and the current concern with values and ethics can be explained in terms of the observer's being aware of his relationship with his environment and the desire that people have to develop communi­ ties of common understanding. The second type of opposition that the new point of view encounters is more difficult to cope with. This Opposition is less a matter of ignorance than amount of interaction between trained disbelief. lt is not malicious, but it can be observer and observed virulent. lts self-confidence springs from the that the concern with the observer is a new form of introspectionism, the point of view that psycholo­ gists abandoned when they adopted behavioralism \ second order cybernetics in the 1950's in their effort to be more scientific. or the new epistemology lt may weil be that science tends to oscillate back and forth between positions-a concern with the observer, then with the outside world, then with the observer, etc. But the pendulum never returns to Figure 4. Second order cybernetics is in accord with exactly the same position. The old position is rede­ the correspondence principle. The old epistemology fined as a result of intervening experience. Neverthe- is a special case of the new epistemology. 12 Second Order Cybernetician with interaction among the variables in a system. 7. Paul R. Ehrlich, The Population 8omb, New York: Second order cybernetics, on the other hand, Ballantine, 1968. focuses attention on the interaction between the Ob­ 8. F. W. Winterbotham, The Ultra Secret, A Deli server and the system being observed. Now draw a Book, 1975. line going from zero to some large number. (see 9. Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Figure 4) The points on this line indicate the amount Revolutions, University of Press, Second of interaction between the observer and the system Edition, 1970, pp. 182-187. being observed. Classical science or logical posi­ 10. Heinz Von Foerster, "The Logical Structure of tivism dealt only with cases very near zero. Con­ Environment and lts Interna! Representation," temporary science deals with cases all along the International Design Conference Aspen 1962, R. line. Clearly the old scientific method is a special E. Eckerstrom (ed.), Zeeland, Michigan: Herman case, a subset, of the new scientific method. Miller, lnc., 1963. Few scientists have made contributions as sig­ 11. Stuart A. Umpleby, "Second Order Cybernetics nificant as Heinz Von Foerster. He has contributed and the Design of Large-Scale Social Experi­ to electrical and neurophysiology, he ments," Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of revolutionized demography, and he has been a the Society for Research, central figure in establishing the new field of cyber­ Boston, February 1975. netics. There are still some systems theorists who 12. lan Mitroff and Vaughan Blankenship, "On the claim that systems theory is not and should not be of the Holistic Experiment: An Ap­ a scientific field. But Heinz had the daring to follow­ proach to the Conceptualization of Large-Scale ing the idea of communication and control to its Social Experiments," Technological Forecasting logical conclusion. Since science is a method of and Social Change, 414, 1973, pp. 339-353. communication and control, cybernetics is in part a science of science. By concentrating on the observer it became apparent that is required. Heinz and his colleagues not only estab­ lished cybernetics as a scientific field in its own right, they have also developed theories which will eventually Iead to the change of science itself. Heinz is currently enjoying a very active retirement in a house which he, his wife Mai, and his son Andy designed, and with one helper built on Rattle­ snake Hili close to Pescadero in California.

REFERENCES 1. This account is taken from Heinz Von Foerster, "Physics and Anthropology: A Personal Account by the New President of the Wenner-Gren Foun­ dation," Current Anthropology, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1964, p. 330. 2. Heinz Von Foerster, Patricia M. Mora, and Lawrence W. Amiot, "Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026, Science, 13213436, 1960, pp. 1291-1295. 3. Von Foerster, Mora and Amiot, "Population Density and Growth," Science, 13313468, 16 June 1961, pp. 1931-1937. 4. James Serrin, "ls Doomsday on Target?" Science, 18914197, 11 July 1975. 5. Based on an article by Don Blyly, "Von Foerster: Austrian Professor Brings Creativity, ." Technograph, the student engineering magazine at the University of lllinois, February 1973, p. 11. 6. One semester while grading papers, I was moved to write several Iimericks about cybernetics. At the risk that they may seem inappropriate to some readers I have inserted a few in this article to provide further explanation and to enliven the presentation.